Changed
by The Famous Fire Lady M
Summary: After Claire and Adam get married and move back to Claire's hometown, people start to question whether Adam really has changed for the better. Will tempers flare?
1. 1 Prologue: To Start

Prologue

The couple reclined on the sofa, unopened packing boxes surrounding them.

Claire grinned. "Did you feel it?" Adam, who was her husband of eight months, had a hand on her barely rounded middle. "I felt it." Claire, who was six months

pregnant, smiled and looked up at his face. "Do you think it'll be a girl or a boy?" He thought for a moment, not looking back at her. Then he faced her and with the

thoughtful pouting that she found so endearing when they were dating, said "I'm actually thinking it might be a boy, but I could be wrong." She reached up and patted

his cheek lovingly. "I'm sure whatever the baby is, it'll be like you. Oh. Speaking of the baby, do you think it might be like_ us_?" He shrugged and opened

his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Adam leaped up to get it, his stride fast compared to Claire, who had followed him to the door.

Peering through the peephole, he saw the face of Noah Bennett leering back at him. He put on a fake grin, one he used many times when talking to Claire's family.

Opening the door, Claire looked over Adam's arm, which had been holding the door open. "Hi dad," she said with a small smile. Noah shuffled closer to the door, and

placed his hand on the door to prevent Adam from closing it. "Hello Claire-bear." He turned to Adam, but didn't greet him. "Adam." He didn't reply, but just nodded to

what Noah had said. "So why are _you_ here at such a late hour?" Adam asked, lacing his speech with a sort of false sweetness, but Noah could hear the bitter dislike

behind his words. Noah answered, in a tone almost matching the one Adam had just used. "I came to see my daughter."


	2. 2 Confrontation

"I came to see my daughter." Noah repeated. "Alone." Adam backed off, opening the door fully to let Mr. Bennett in. He stopped before leaving the room and stuck his head out of the kitchen doorway. "I'll be in here if you need me." And he disappeared into the kitchen. She heard her father's tone when he asked to see her. "What's wrong, dad?" Noah, still standing on the door mat inside, let out a slow deep breath. "Claire-bear, it's about… _him_." She knew he was talking about Adam because he gestured to where she could see him sitting on one of the folding chairs they had unpacked just half an hour before. Adam smiled and when she glanced over at him and he waved. She smiled weakly in return and waved back.

Noah gripped her upper arm and whispered, "Claire, I love you and I don't want to see you get hurt." She glanced at his hand clamped around her bicep, and then looked up at his face. "What are you trying to say? That Adam will hurt me?" She shook her head. "He won't. Don't you think I'm old enough to handle myself? I _am_ twenty! And Adam won't hurt me. He loves me." Noah sighed, apparently impatient with Claire's naiveté. "Adam was going to kill almost the entire population." Claire closed her eyes tightly, fighting off a wave of nausea. "He never told me that..." She whispered, "but how can I believe _you_?"

Noah's grip tightened. "No. Claire, listen to me. He is a monster. An arrogant beast. Did he even tell you how many wives he's had?" Tears welling under her closed eyes, she blurted, "No, but—" Noah interrupted her. "But what? He loves you? He will use you, Claire, like he used your Uncle Peter." But Noah said that last bit too loud because Adam had left the kitchen and was standing behind his wife, in front of Noah.

"I'd like for you to leave. " Again with the same false sincerity as before, but now it was spoken in a rather angry tone. "And I'd prefer if you didn't touch my wife like that, you're hurting her." And he was right. Noah had begun to squeeze her arm so tightly, he left finger marks. Adam gently placed a hand at Claire's elbow. "Leave. Now." Noah let go of her arm violently, almost knocking her backwards. Adam, having a hold of her, prevented that from happening. He stormed away, flung open the front door, and with one odd resentful look at the two, was gone.

Adam looked over Claire. "You all right?" He rubbed both her arms and pulled her close. Kissing the top of her head, he whispered, "Whatever your dad told you is not true. And I do love you. If I didn't, we wouldn't be here right now, would we? Would we?" He held her out at arms length. She nodded and smiled. "See? We'll be fine." She cracked a smile. "Yeah. My dad will warm up to you eventually. I mean, we _did_ get his permission. It's not like we eloped."

A half-hour later, they were lying on the futon they had brought with them when they first moved in. Adam had an arm encircling Claire's middle, and both were lying on their sides. Adam opened one eye. "Claire, you still awake?" She responded with a soft groan. Taking that as a no, he closed both eyes and tried to fall asleep.

But what Noah had said before was getting to him. Noah had said he was a monster. He raised a hand and squinted at it in the dim light. He was a different person now than he was before. He had changed, he was sure of it. He wasn't a monster, was he?

AN: Ah, this one was much longer than the first chappie. Review and you get a kiss with your favorite Hero. (But just not with Adam, he's mine..)


	3. 3 Explanation

The next morning, Adam slept in late, which was very unusual for him. Claire had risen before him and made breakfast. It was eleven thirty when he actually left the bed.

Claire, who was normally so intuitive to other people's emotions, was utterly in the dark about what Adam was upset about. She didn't even know he was upset.

She was clueless, that is, until Adam confronted her about what her father had said. "Claire, love, I can't help but tell you this. What Noah, what _your father_ said, is true. I truly was married ten other times. I had dozens of lifetimes, and after each one died I remarried, immortality is both a curse and a blessing. I was lonely. As you would have known had I not found you. But now, I have you. We'll be with each other forever." He took her hands and squeezed them. Claire beamed and kissed him on the lips.

He did not tell her about what else was bothering him, and it made him feel rather bad that he was keeping secrets from her. She gave him a quick peck o the corner of his mouth and sauntered past him to set the dirty breakfast dishes into the sink.

He opened his mouth to tell her about the plan he had, which had not succeeded, al thanks to Carp and Peter Petrelli, but what came out instead of his confession was this; "Hey, Claire, I'll do the dishes. You sit down and rest. Too much standing is bad for the baby."

Claire looked delighted at the chance to sit down. She seemed as though she hadn't slept much. And it appeared that she had unpacked, cleaned, and put away about sixty boxes and their contents. Sixty out of eighty very heavy boxes done alone. And he wasn't even up to help.

If he had known what was to come, he would have felt even guiltier than he did then.

AN: Yes, I know it's rather short. I was suffering from writer's block when I wrote it.

Review and you get a candlelit dinner with your favorite character from heroes. But, yet again, not Adam. Unless you're OllieOfFreeOxen, then you get Adam too.


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